Submitted by sdo@sunnydayonl... on Tue, 11/03/2009 - 17:07
Part Two
I graduated from Plainsburg with 12 others that year. I know, such a big class. The summer before my freshman year of High School, my parents let me fly to Florida to spend a few weeks with my grandmother.
Why was that little bit of information important to my story of becoming a techy? Well, it was there that I got my first PC. That’s right folks, my first very own genuine Intel 486 computer with Windows 95 and a scanner.
Anyways. Grandma and Grandpa Whitfield lived in Christmas, FL near Orlando. They had a large house on stilts. This was prior to 9/11 and my grandpa had devoted his life to US Airways and was a manager at Orlando International. They invited me out to see Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral and spend some time at Epcot and Gator World. We even went out on the boat. Towards the end of the trip, they started telling me that they had a big surprise for me. I had no idea what it was. They ended up giving me their computer. I was so happy. We packed it into the suitcase and everything fit except the keyboard, scanner and mouse.
We found a box and created a carry on for the left over items with duct tape. The flight home was interesting. The stares and embarrassment that came from that carry on item cause me to try and forget about it every chance I get. One person even asked where I got my “Redneck Luggage?” I had to shrug and Grandpa Whitfield, who accompanied me on the flight home, just couldn’t stop laughing. To this day, I think that is one of his favorite memories.
It was time for high school and my parents made me take Typing instead of Spanish. Remind me to thank them. Not only did I get really good at typing, but I learned so much about computers and how they work. I also ended up having to take Spanish as a Junior and that is a big part of how my wife and I got together. Thanks Mom.
Four years of high school and I was ready to try another round of entrepreneurship. WIWC was now defunct, except for the hypermart site which was still up. I was really involved in High School. I was Junior Class President, ASB Commissioner of School Activities, FFA Chaplain and Parliamentarian and Football Player extraordinaire. Plus I was actually working as a Computer Technician/Aide at Plainsburg Elementary and Snelling Elementary, positions I held until after I graduated from Merced College.
I organized another business which was actually relatively successful right before graduating. I gathered five others to help me organize and run my business and gave them 1/6 of the company. Innovative Computing Technology Solutions, LLC (ICTS, LLC) was organized as an LLC on 4/2/2002 with my dad Robert, my friends Ben Murdock, Dustin Gray (Chief Financial Officer) and Jameson Coulombe, and my girlfriend Amy Gipe [soon to be Whitfield ;) ] as partners. I was once again excited and motivated. At that first meeting everyone contributed $70.00 which I had calculated to be the amount we needed to file the paper work and give us a little bit of money to operate on.
Our first client was Wireless Support Services. They asked us to do three things: 1) make them a website 2) make them business cards and 3) make them a brochure. We completed the tasks in record time and were paid nicely. ICTS had three core business units: Technology Support, Internet Design and Development and Print Design and Development.
We found many other clients. A lot of them came from the Registered Cattle world where my wife was very active in. We were doing pretty good but there was a problem. It soon became apparent that the only people that really wanted to put time into the business was my Dad, Dustin and myself, with me doing most of the work. Everyone else must have been too busy and just had different priorities.
When I came to this realization, I was devastated. I lost my ambition to succeed and just gave up. Dustin and I shut down the business just prior to its one year anniversary. It was a personal loss that is hard to describe.
I learned a lot from ICTS. Not only did I learn about organizing an LLC and starting a true taxpaying business, but I also learned that partners must be carefully vetted and worked with for a while before you can truly count on them. I also learned that not having control of your business and having to politic around a lot is a major detriment to any business. Board meetings can’t be held on a dime and when you are called to the block on every decision you make for the business, it can be a real drag on motivation.
Besides learning lessons, shutting down ICTS also meant that those customers that relied on ICTS for their technology solutions needed a new home. It was at this point that I decided to start Whitfield Enterprises.
Next time I’ll discuss the beginnings of Whitfield Enterprises, Sunny Day Web Group and financial security that led me to where I am now.
Part Four
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